USA Today ran a story today showing the total salary obligations that each team has from 2005 - 2010. Once you get past all of the sensationalistic Seligian headlines (Baseball has $2.8 BILLION in debt!!) it's really interesting to look at.

If angst were apples, the Boston Red Sox would be an orchard. If the franchise were a movie production, it’d be Heaven’s Gate multiplied by Apocalypse Now. If it was a car, it’d be a 12-cylinder super-charged luxury SUV doing twice the speed limit yet convinced the wheels are coming off and the driver is lost. This franchise is wound tight with so much anxiety, frustration, disillusionment and self-esteem issues that it could keep every shrink in New England in Guccis and silk ties for years.

I came in here for that special offer
A guaranteed personality

As Steve Z. alerted us in the Saturday Roundup thread, the National Post ran one of John Lott's typically fine articles, entitled Doc's Breakfast Club. For reasons best known to the Post, only the first paragraph is available on their Web site, unless you register with them. However, after an e-mail exchange with Mr. Z., Mr. Lott has given us permission to reprint it here. Thanks very much, gentlemen.

Going around the Spring Training horn:

The latest from Florida and beyond.

"And the storm blows up in her eyes
She will...
Suffer the needle chill
She's running to stand...
Still." - U2.

It seems like a different age. Believe it or not, the Orioles were the last team not being currently ignored by Robert Dudek to win the AL East.

The 1997 edition of the Birds won 98 games and made it to the ALCS. But after the season, Davey Johnson was replaced by Ray Miller; since then, they have never won more than 79.

With Moffatt away we are relying on you, the readers of Da Box, to provide articles and commentary on the Jays for discussion today.

You earn bonus points for 80s references.

It's Deja Vu All Over Again
And now for something completely different ... let's play a little game. See if you can fill in the specific name or event to which each bracketed number refers.

How Scandinavian of me.

The year 2003 is one that Reds fans would love to forget. The team was beset with injuries, the starting pitching was horrendous, and the team finished only one game above the last place Milwaukee Brewers. This was followed up by the senseless murder of outfielder Dernell Stenson and the death of former owner Marge Schott.

Opening the windows and breathing in petrol
An amateur band rehearsing in a nearby yard
Watching the tele and thinking about your holidays

I was at a party recently and laid out on the coffee table was a passionate letter from a Mariners fan, which I’m going to share with you below. That I just happened to have to write a preview about the Mariners for the Box later that month was one of the great coincidences of my life.

There have been numerous prospect lists published recently by the usual Baseball Websites. Trying to rank some prospects for a forthcoming fantasy draft I got hopelessly confused, so I threw a few sets of results, that were freely available, into a spreadsheet and ranked them. The results seemed interesting enough to share.

Here are the players that the fans peceive as the best and worst fielders in the league.